Don't Mow Let It Grow
Initiated 2021
Johnstown hosts more than 220,000 sqm of public lawns. These traditionally appear neatly cut short and spacious. However, at an estimated cost of €50k annually the developers have burdened residents with the challenge of maintaining these monoculture spaces, and they are not particularly beneficial for wildlife or the environment.
Summer meadows could be our most beneficial lawn solution to not only promote biodiversity but reduce the costs to residents. Best suited to public lawns these can strike a balance between lawn space for children to play, areas where they are cut short for public safety, and those pockets where we'd like to see wildflowers bloom and wildlife flourish.
We've seen glimpses of this in Johnstown before.
The Bailis Downs Residents Group grew their lawns long for 3 months in 2016 to draw attention to the fact that not enough of its residents were contributing to its upkeep.
Johnstown Wood lawn at Chestnut & Elm, Metges Road, became a summer meadow in 2018. Lack of resident funding, rather than actual long-term planning, saw 25 bales of grass removed in summer. However, in this time it did a great deal to benefit biodiversity and set our group seeking out solutions.
What is a Summer Meadow?
As the name suggests these meadows are grown from Spring through to late Autumn and then cleared. In that time they provide food, shelter, and safety to wildlife. In exchange, they provide us with colourful flowers, vibrant wildlife, and a lower-cost solution to managing large lawns.
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Since the estate developers established grass lawns the initial aim is to significantly reduce the grass content. Over the seasons, and by allowing it to grow long, the grass will draw out and deplete certain nutrients from the soil. Over time the grasses will thin out and allow new space for natural wildflowers to grow. These don't require fertile soil but they can't compete with faster-growing grass or invasive weeds. Therefore this is not an overnight, or even a short-term, project. We can speed up the process by introducing Yellow Rattle, a semi-parasitic wildflower, that feeds off the grass roots and effectively kills them.
The images we conjure in our minds of multicoloured flower-filled flowing wildflowers are not necessarily the summer meadows we're expecting to create. Wildflowers that come from seed packets, even the native Irish seeds, are not sourced locally, and therefore not specifically aimed at our local wildlife. Keep the designer seed packets for use in your private gardens or to solve specific issues. Resist the urge to create huge instant wildflower meadows.
Plan To Succeed
Once a site location has been identified, and support and agreement gained from local residents', there are 3 essential elements to be in place before you start:
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Agree on a plan to maintain the perimeter of the site to demonstrate that the site is being maintained and erect public information signage to explain the purpose of the project.
A plan must be in place to check for and remove any litter or invasive weeds.
Make arrangements and if needed gain funding for the Autumn grass cut and clearance. This will require a different approach to the typical lawnmower and there will be a huge amount of grass to remove. What to do with the grass is often a stumbling point.
Johnstown's Project Sites
Our group piloted a small 100sqm site in 2021 before expanding up to 1,800 sqm for 2022. Managing the end product, grass, is by far the most challenging issue. We have teamed up with Walterstown GFC to host our compost site whilst another project aims to generate an equivalent volume of leaves to add to the site in Autumn.
Tools For The Job
Knowing that volunteers are likely to be cutting the long grass we've researched financially viable and sustainable alternatives to hiring expensive equipment. In April 2022, we purchased a simple scythe that is the traditional purpose-made tool for cutting long grass and the like. Since this is a pilot project, and we're also beginners at using the tool, we have opted for a standard model. We intend to test out our skills by cutting the perimeter of our meadows, using a grass rake, before mowing over the cuttings ready for the compost heap.
Guidance
We'll be following the advice from biodiversityireland.ie and depending on the speed of grass growth, and our solutions for managing the expected volume of grass, we may revert to a 6-week meadow.
Sustainable Development Goals
This project has connections with the following categories:
